


It's Often Said That Life Is Strange

by dizzy



Series: Kansas [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-16
Updated: 2010-08-16
Packaged: 2017-10-11 03:08:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/107676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows "Things That Only Happen in Kansas"</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Often Said That Life Is Strange

"I got the most interesting email this morning, Cameron." Vala says, planting herself in his path.

"Did you now?" Cam side steps and tries to go around her.

She just follows, linking her arm through his. "Yes, it was from your mother."

Cam groans.

Vala continues. "She informed me that I'm welcome to join your family for Christmas, provided I have no other plans. And you know, funny thing, I don't have other plans!"

*

Kansas had given him a lot of ideas last time, a lot of ideas about himself and Vala and the way things could play out. But once they'd gotten back to base she'd reattached herself to Jackson's hip and, sure, maybe she was a little more inclined to come seek Cam out when she was bored but she showed no indication of wanting anything more out of him.

Pride bruised, he'd ignored her thinly veiled propositions for the most part.

Now she's back in the passenger seat of his car, sleepy and smiling at half past six on a Saturday morning. Six days leave, the most Cam has had in his time at the SGC. He's still not entirely convinced that all of the universe's bad guys will hold off for the full six days, but he plans on enjoying what he can.

It'd been a harder sell than a weekend for the reunion had been, but Landry gets how much they've all been through. Cam still doesn't have Jack O'Neill's pull but he's earned his way to a few perks and so has Vala.

*

The happiness is practically radiating off of Vala as she spends the first day catching up with his mother. He listens in and makes sure the tales Vala spins aren't too outrageous, but she's on good behavior. Good by her standards, anyway.

He still isn't sure what it is about this (this place, his family, this kind of life) that appeals to her. She lives on danger and excitement; she'd be bored to tears living somewhere like Kansas. She should be bored to tears by his parents, but she soaks in the attention, shines with it.

Would she really like this? Settling down? He has a flash of a thought, barely formed before he shoves it down, of Vala and a house with a few acres of land, a white picket fence, a couple of kids and a dog.

He'll let his momma handle those kinds of thoughts for right now. She's doing it anyway, he can see it in the pleased look on her face every time she looks at them.

"You're taking Vala to the Christmas festival, aren't you?" She asks

Vala's face lights up. "A festival? What sort of festival is this? I hope it's the kind with feasting, and not with ritual s-"

"Yeah, town puts one on every year." Cam says, reaching out and poking Vala. She yelps and glowers at him, but recovers quickly. "And no, ma, I wasn't planning on going."

"Oh, but you've got to take her! Vala, we'll go shopping tomorrow and find you a nice new dress to wear." His mother says, her eyes bright.

That pretty much seals his fate.

*

He hates to admit it, but he's having fun. Vala's being Vala - nosy, annoying, slightly inappropriate. But she's doing it effortlessly, naturally, not to put on a show. She's laughing, eating cotton candy from a paper funnel and sighing over hot chocolate like she's never had it before. He has no idea if that's true or not, but he finds himself watching her, drinking it in.

"Can we ride that?" She asks, pointing to the large, luminous ferris wheel.

"Sure." Cam says, shrugging, not putting up a fight. He likes ferris wheels. They used to be his favorite ride as a kid. He could never get enough of that rush that came from being on top, looking out over everything. Closest thing to touching the stars that he'd ever thought possible from an eight year old's point of view.

He buys them two tickets and makes her throw away the cup before they get into the little booth, swinging door latching in front of them. She shivers and leans into him.

It's just natural for him to put his arm around her.

Apparently it's natural for her to rest her head on his shoulder.

*

She's made herself sick from candy and funnel cake and cider and cocoa but it's nearing midnight and she still isn't ready to leave.

"Vala, they're gonna shut it down soon." He tries to tell her. They're walking in vaguely the direction of the exit but she goes slower with every step, like a reticent child.

"There are still people here!" She argues, pointing to another meandering couple.

He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, but we need to leave."

"You're no fun, Cameron." She sulks.

She's wearing a Santa hat she won from a game, a small stuffed reindeer clutched in her hand. Her expert skills at marksmanship had gained at least half a dozen children much larger prizes, and then promptly gotten her banned from ever playing again.

He reaches up and tugs the white fluff ball at the end of her hat. She huffs and jerks away but he grabs her, slings an arm around her waist and pulls her back to him, back pressed to his chest. "We'll go have fun somewhere else."

She stills, tensing and then relaxing fluidly into him. She tips her head back and to the side, mouth near his. "Oh?"

"Uh huh." He grins and gives her a quick kiss.

*

"This is fun." She says, grinning, hands clasped tightly in his. He's in front of her, moving backwards, slow and steady.

He's more pulling her along on the ice than she is actually skating herself, but she's still having fun. He picks up a burst of speed after they round the corner and she gasps, delighted.

It's a crisp, clear night, the temperatures below freezing but they're bundled up nicely so the only victims are red noses.

"Can we do this in Colorado?" She asks.

"Ice skate? Sure. Won't be like this though." He says, gesturing around them. It's a small lake on his neighbor's property, one he used to skate on often in winter growing up. "Probably some kind of big arena."

She's ready to try it on her own a few minutes later. He lets go of her gloved hands, turns away and takes off at full speed. He laps her three times but by the fourth she's steady on her feet and flashes a grin at him, surging forward. He slows to match and they skate side by side.

"This was lovely." She says, when it's nearing dawn and they're back home. Her voice is soft, almost sweet if he didn't know who she was. Not sweet like trying though, not sweet like manipulating. "Thank you."

"My pleasure." He says, and means it. He hopes she can tell. He hopes a lot right now, and he feels like he's wearing his heart on his sleeve, and like that's a really dumb thing to do around a chronic kleptomaniac, but he's on home terf and he's letting his guard down a little.

She kisses him in the hallway in front of his bedroom. He kisses her back with his hands on her face and it feels like he's falling into her.

 

*

"Did you wear her out?" His mother asks him, not a hint of suggestion in her voice though it still makes his cheeks burn.

"We went ice skating after the carnival." He explains.

It's noon and Vala's still in bed.

Cam's bed.

*

It's dinner time and his house is swarming with relations. Aunts and uncles, cousins and their kids, every age from eighty down to eight months. The house smells like food, enough to feed the small army that is family practically is at this point, and it radiates the feeling of home to Cam.

Vala's been holding one of the babies. She gets this look on her face when she does, and it makes him think of the baby she had, and he wonders what that kid meant to her. He never actually saw her pregnant; never talked to her about it, either. Never asked her how she felt during those nine months. She must have had a future planned, have gotten used to the idea of being a mother... and then had it snatched away from her in such a fucked up way.

She comes over to him after the baby is handed off to someone else, sits on his lap because there aren't any other chairs free and doesn't even look at him. She talks to someone else, talks clothes with a second cousin of his while he talks football with his uncle.

He rests a hand on the small of her back, feels bare skin where her shirt rides up. She glances at him without a break in conversation, the corners of her mouth lifting in a smile.

His great aunt Ida asks him loudly in front of everyone when he's going to marry that beautiful girl he's brought home with him. Vala's delighted, both at his discomfort and at Ida's insistence that the ring be very large. "You're making good money off of Uncle Sam," she chastises him. "Don't waste on fancy trucks and big screen tvs. You take care of her."

"Take care of me." Vala reminds him, often throughout the night. "Because your darling old aunt told you to."

"Vala, I think you probably oughta be the one taking care of me." He groans. "How much money do you have tucked away across the universe."

"Enough." She smirks. "But a girl has needs, Cameron."

"A guy has needs, too." He smirks back.

*

There's a snowball fight. It's cheesy, but it's tradition, and there's nothing the Mitchell clan takes as seriously as tradition.

The snowball fight - as tradition dictates - ends with hot cocoa for everyone, made in a massive pot on the stove. Vala's pink cheeked and laughing, celebrating victory with the younger of the tribe, her allegiance having been granted to them early on. They love her, and it's not hard to tell why.

She returns to Cam ever so often though, finds him across the room or shows up at his side. He finds himself doing the same. When her cup is empty, he brings her another. She leans back into him, finds his hand and slides her fingers through his.

It's half past midnight when he kisses her in the hallway, pulls her into his room. Her mouth is warm and sweet on his, her hands on his shoulders grasping slightly. She looks surprised, and pleased, and he wonders how much of this she's planned. He wants to think it's catching her just as off guard as it is him, but he's afraid to ask.

When Christmas is over, they'll go back to Colorado. It's not a lack of ego, but a willingness to own up to the reality he has to live in that leaves him unable to quite believe that he won't come in second as soon as he's in the same room as Jackson, but this time he doesn't think he'll be quite so willing to let it go.


End file.
